A Risk Worth Taking – one shot

Walter landed on the nearest couch in the garage exhausted; it had been a particularly stressful case. It was a successful plan; Maya was now safe and the men threatening her were looking at life in prison. He should feel happy right now, relieved, but his team felt fractured and he could notice how it was affecting them.

He loosened his tie and propped his feet on the coffee table. He closed his eyes for a minute, but he couldn't relax for long until Toby came storming in.

He had never seen him so distraught.

"Toby, why are you covered in yogurt?"

"Stop it; you have been avoiding me ever since our discussion on my theory of you and Paige. You have been suppressing your obvious feelings so stop it, now, and ignore my latest yogurt fashion."

Walter rolled his eyes. He still had his quirks despite his heated state.

"Toby, work plus relationships never work out. I would just end up ruining everything with Paige."

"And so what?! Take a risk Walt. Here I stand before you covered in Sylvester's expired dairy product and Happy shunning me for being a fool. I took a risk."

"Um, not to be the bearer of bad news but that doesn't seem like a desirable outcome."

Toby threw his arms up in exasperation. He thought for a moment and then walked over to his trailer to get something he thought might change Walter's point of view.

"You're missing the point. Yes, it is not my first choice outcome, but it is anoutcome. I did it because it was worth it to me. And I believe that this is worth something to you."

Toby came back from behind the trailer with his whiteboard in his hands. He flipped it around to reveal the drawing that Walter could not bring himself to erase. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

Paige wasn't worth something to him; she was worth everything.

In that moment he ran to the table to grab his keys and to go to where he should've been all along: with her.

He patted Toby on the shoulders and genuinely thanked him for being so persistent and enlightening him on how he really felt. He hated admitting it, but Toby was right, and he had been wrong.

He sped above Paige's neighborhood speed limit; so fast he practically passed her driveway by mistake. Her house was lit with lights lining the steps to the porch. He smiled as he caught sight of her in the front window. She was setting the table for dinner; Ralph was already seated. It was peculiar though, they never generally ate in the dining room unless it was some sort of special occasion. The thought quickly evaded his mind as he pictured himself with them.

Happily together.

Now that would be a special occasion.

He couldn't help himself as he ran to her front door. He stopped before knocking to try and calm down his nerves; he didn't have a plan once she opened the door, but he didn't care. All he wanted was to see her. He gave three light knocks on the maple wood door.

He wanted to rewind time when the door opened. He felt sick.

"Hey Walter what brings you here at this time?"

"Oh um, Drew, I didn't realize Paige had company. Um, I'm sorry for interrupting your dinner. I'll just go." Oh, Drew had been the special occasion. Before he could turn around and run away from that humiliating situation he heard Paige.

"Drew who is it?"

Drew contemplated for a moment. "It's nobody." He practically spat his words; he never did take a liking for Walter. The feeling was mutual.

Paige came out from behind the door, sneezing from a cloud of flour. She instantly smiled as she realized it was Walter. She shook her head at Drew, "What do you mean nobody? Don't leave him standing out there in the rain, come on in Walter."

Walter didn't know what to do. One person wanted to invite him in and the other looked like he would punch him if he took another step forward. But Paige's eyes were insisting, so he walked in avoiding eye contact with Drew.

"Are you hungry? I'm just making dinner."

Walter felt like his stomach was flipping; the last thing he wanted to do was eat, but he wanted a reason to stay so he nodded his head.

"Great, I'm just making a casserole so it will be about another 20 minutes. Ralph is in the dining room if you want to go sit with him." Walter was glad there was another person to converse with other than Drew. He didn't hesitate to find the boy.

"Hey Ralph."

The boy jumped out of his seat and ran to hug Walter. It took him by surprise. He ruffled the boy's hair. "Ha, good to see you too."

"I'm glad you're here Walter. It was getting boring having to listen to endless stories of baseball."

"Well, do you want to hear about our latest case instead? We got to control a RV with a remote control." Walter indulged in the conversation further as the boy watched him with eager eyes. It became hard to concentrate as he overheard Paige and Drew's conversation in the kitchen.

"Drew, try to be nice."

"How can I? That 'genius' in there constantly questions my ability as a father, and I'm just supposed to be happy that he's joining us for dinner? My first dinner back here?"

"You should have no criticism towards him. He is my boss, my friend, and he takes care of Ralph. Sometimes better than you, considering you have better places to be," she snapped at him.

Drew was beside himself, "Baseball is my career; I can't change the schedule."

"You can change your priorities."

He could tell that the conversation was over. He stormed into the dining room.

"Walter, come with me to get a beer from the garage."

"I don't drink."

"Then we will find you something else. I just want to talk to you."

The last thing that Walter wanted to do was to follow Drew into the garage; but he didn't want Ralph to notice how worried he was so he pushed his chair back and got up to go get a "beer."

He smiled as he passed Paige in the kitchen. He needed to get to his point of being here in the first place.

They barely got down the stairs before Drew turned to him and confronted his intentions.

"I know why you are here. Why would you just drop by at this time to say hello? You are not good for Paige, so stop thinking that she will want anything from you. You don't even know what love is?"

Walter was suddenly fuming with anger and frustration. "And you do? I can offer Paige stability and the promise of actually being here for her."

Drew grabbed the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall, "Don't screw things up for me."

With that, he grabbed his beer and made his way back to the kitchen, acting as though nothing occurred.

Walter grabbed a bottle of water, and cautiously followed.

Again, he passed Paige in the kitchen and was waiting for the timer to go off. She kept checking in the oven to see if it was burnt. Walter knew she liked everything to be perfect. She was so engrossed in her cooking that she didn't even notice his presence until he asked if she needed any help. She jumped at his voice.

"Oh Walter you scared me. Thank you but I think I am all good in here; I'm just waiting for it to finish cooking."

He really wished she asked him to stay; Drew was in the dining room with Ralph.

"Oh, ok then."

"Wait Walter."

He eagerly turned to her next statement. She walked up to him and stood just inches away from his face. He didn't know what she was doing, but he felt the urge to grab her closer and kiss her.

"Your tie is crooked," she said in a whisper as she adjusted the collar. Her touch was light. "There, that's better."

Walter just watched her with awe. She was so beautiful even when she didn't realize it. She looked up and held his gaze for a moment before Drew coughed to make his presence known.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I just got a call from one of my teammates. Last minute practice."

Paige broke eye contact and Walter's smile fell. Her demeanor changed instantly. "This late? You are on break though."

"I know but I can't tell them no."

"That's right I forgot you can only tell us no."

He took a step forward trying to fix the situation. "Paige-"

"Just go! Forget about tomorrow with Ralph, just go already; they are probably waiting."

Drew's eyes grew sad at her objection toward him. He began to walk away but then glared at Walter. It was almost as though he was warning him without saying a word. He slammed the door shut on his way out.

"God, I am such an idiot. I shouldn't have even picked up the phone when he called. I can't keep doing this to Ralph; getting his expectations up and then having Drew crush them. It's so unfair to him." She fell down into a chair and threw her potholder to the ground. She buried her head in her hands.

Walter knelt down and moved her face up to his. "It's also unfair to you."

She was sniffling from the tears and asked Walter something he was trying to figure out this whole time, "Why are you here Walter?"

"I, um, wanted to tell you something."

"I'm going to see you tomorrow at work though."

Walter was fiddling with his hands, trying to figure out the right way to say this. It wasn't as set in stone as a math equation.

He looked up at her, "This couldn't wait another day." And suddenly he let his impulse take control and cupped Paige's face in his hands and kissed her. He didn't care what Drew said about him. He pulled away.

"I came here because I want you, and I wanted to test a theory."

"What theory?"

"I know I am not perfect, but I want to make this work, if that is what you would want. I think I have felt like this since the first day I saw you in the diner; I just didn't know what it was." Walter couldn't believe he had actually said that. He thought Paige was going to kick him out, but instead she gave him a beaming smile. She grabbed him by his collar and pulled him closer to greet him with a hungry kiss. His tie was crooked again, but at that point he didn't care if she ripped it off.

"It's a risk worth taking."

**And that is my Crossroads fantasy! Tell me what your thoughts are!**